Yarn-twisting device

ABSTRACT

A spindle adapted to receive a yarn package core is surrounded by an annular sleeve. The sleeve is split along a closed line located between and spaced form its ends to form an upper section and a lower section having mating surfaces. The median plane of the closed line is inclined at an acute angle to the spindle axis. The yarn to be twisted is passed from a point, exterior to the sleeve and at least substantially close to the spindle axis, through the space between the adjacent ends of the sleeve sections and onto the package core.

Inventor Peter A. Taylor Greenville, S.C. Appl. No. 854,368 Filed Sept. 2, 1969 Patented July 20, 1971 Assignec Phillips Petroleum Company YARN-TWISTING DEVICE 10 Claims, 2 Drawing Figs.

[15. Cl 57/74, 57/66, 57/106, 57/127 Int. Cl D0lh 1/06, DOlh 7/68, D01h 7/70 Field of Search 57/66, 67, 74, 127, 34, 68,106

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 284,549 9/1883 Hall et al. 57/74 1,333,169 3/1920 Gibson 57/66 1,928,708 10/1933 Tidmus 57/74 2,218,620 10/1940 Nau-Touron. 57/67 FOREIGN PATENTS 252,471 6/1926 Great Britain 57/74 630,635 10/1949 Great Britain 57/127 Primary Examiner.lohn Petrakes Attorney-Young and Quigg ABSTRACT: A spindle adapted to receive a yarn package core is surrounded by an annular sleeve. The sleeve is split along a closed line located between and spaced form its ends to form an upper section and a lower section having mating surfaces, The median plane of the closed line is inclined at an acute angle to the spindle axis. The yarn to be twisted is passed from a point, exterior to the sleeve and at least substantially close to the spindle axis, through the space between the adjacent ends of the sleeve sections and onto the package core.

PATENTEU JUL20 I97! INVENTOR.

P. A. TAYLOR ATTORNEYS YARN-TWISTING DEVICE This invention relates to apparatus for twisting yarn. In one aspect it relates to a device for twisting a yarn as the yarn is wound on a rotating yarn package core.

Conventional ring twisters utilize a raceway or ring surrounding a rotating spindle. The yarn passes through a traveler which moves freely around the raceway or ring. A traversing mechanism is provided to reciprocate the raceway parallel to the axis of the spindle, with the extent of the traverse being variable with time. The traveler is subject to wear and breakage, and the traversing mechanism is complicated and expensive. The comparatively slow speed of the traversing mechanism gives very little yarn overlay when the takeup is operating at high speeds. it is then necessary to have the tapered yarn package. This gives rise to a complicated traversing mechanism and to inefficiently loaded packages; i.e., a tapered package will have. less yarn on it than a square package for the same height and diameter. The present invention can be used to produce a square package.

It has now been discovered that a yarn can be twisted as it is wound onto a rotatingyarn package core by passing the yarn between the sections of a split cylindrically annular sleeve. The sleeve sections can be maintained stationary as the split is inclined at an acute angle to the package core axis to provide the desired traversing path. This device can be employed to form cylindrically shaped packages as well as the conventional tapered packages.

Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved device for twisting yarn. Another object of the invention is to reduce the number of moving parts in a yarntwisting device. Another object of the invention is to eliminate the need for a reciprocating traversing mechanism. Another object is to give an efficient package having the maximum yarn content.

Other objects, aspects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from a study of the specification, the drawings and the appended claims to the invention.

In the drawings,

H6. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of a draw-twist process utilizing a twister device in accordance with the present invention, and

FIG. 2 is an elevational view, partly in cross section, of the twister device of FIG. 1.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, twister device 11 comprises a vertical shaft or spindle 12 having a pulley 13 mounted on the lower end thereof. A hearing member 14 is mounted around shaft 12 at an intermediate location and is provided with a plurality of radially extending support arm members 15 to support annular sleeve 16. Annular sleeve 16 is split along a closed line 17 located between and spaced from the upper end 18 and the lowerend' 19of sleeve 16, to form an upper sleeve section 21 and a lower sleeve section 22. The lower end 23 of the upper sleeve section 21 and the upper end 24 of the lower sleeve section 22 have mating surfaces, that is the surfaces are parallel to eachv other. The surfaces will be hard' and smooth, having a substantially constant root mean square surface smoothness and consequently a low friction coefficient. The median plane 25 for line 17 is inclined at an acute angle to the longitudinal axisof sleeve 16. The median plane for line 17 is the plane situated substantially parallel to line 1-7 with half of line 17 above the plane and the other half of line 17 below the plane. The magnitude of this angle of inclination will depend upon the axial length of the desired yarn package and the effective diameter of sleeve 16'. Where the line 17 is symmetrical, the plane 25 will pass throughthe highest and lowest points on the line. While line 17 can be planar, it will generally be preferable to have a more pronounced curvature in the uppermost and lowermost portions thereof to reduce or eliminate the buildup of yarn at the ends of the package being formed on'the core.

Positioning key 26. is fixedly secured to shaft- 12 by any suitable means. Key 26' can be shuped t'o fit a correspondingly 2 shaped opening in the lower end of yarn package core 27 to permit the yarn package core 27 to be readily placed on or removed from the spindle 12, while causing the core 27 to rotate with spindle 12 when the core 27 is placed in operating position. The yarn core 27 can be any suitable device, including, for example, pirn, cylindrical tubing, bobbin, and the like. Other suitable fastening means, for example, spring clips, can be employed in addition to or in lieu of key 26.

A bearing 31 is positioned around an upper portion of spindle 12 and permits free rotation of spindle 12 with respect to the bearing 31. Support arm members 32 extend radially from bearing 31 to upper sleeve section 21. While the sleeve 16 can be rotated in the direction opposite to the rotation of spindle 12, or in the same direction as spindle 12 but at a different speed, it will generally be preferable to maintain sleeve 16 stationary. A support bracket 33 can be attached to lower sleeve section 22 to fixedly secure the lower sleeve section 23 to machine frame. Due to the inclined surfaces 23 and 24 and the positioning effect of spindle l2, bearing 31 and support arms 32, the upper sleeve section 21 will float on lower sleeve section 22 but will not rotate with respect thereto. While sleeve 16 can be of various cross-sectional shapes, for example, oval, substantially rectangular with curved corners, and the like, the presently preferred shape is circular. The longitudinal axis of sleeve 16 is generally parallel to, and preferably coincident with, the longitudinal axis of spindle 12.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a yarn 4'] to be drawn and twisted is passed several draw around feed roll 42 and is then forwarded to draw roll 43. The yarn is passed several times around draw roll 43 and then passes downwardly through a yam guide 44. if desired, a separator roll can be utilized with feed roll 41 and another separator roll can be provided in association with draw roll 43. Guide 44 is positioned substantially on the axis of spindle 12 at a'distance above sleeve 16 to permit the yarn to balloon freely as it travels from guide 44 through the space between upper sleeve section 21 and lower sleeve section 22 onto the yarn package core 27. The rotation of the spindle 12 by drive means 43 causes the movement along line 17 of the point of ingress of yarn 41 through sleeve 16, resulting'in twisting of the yarn 41 as it is wound onto the core 27. The amount of twist is related to the surface speed of the package takeup and the rate of forwarding the yarn 41. The upper sleeve section 21 is elevated slightly by the presence of yarn 41. The weight of the upper sleeve section 21 can be designed to apply a desired tensioning force to the yarn 41.

After the desired amount of twisted yarn is wound onto the package core 27, the yarn 41 can be out between guide 44 and sleeve 16, and the upper sleeve section 21 can be lifted off spindle l2 and the wound package can be removed. from the twister device. Theinvention is particularly useful in winding a cylindricalpackage of twisted yam onto a tube.

The twist level of the yarn can be maintained constant throughout the package by having; drive means 45 programmed to vary the spindle r.p'.m'. on a time basis to account for the increasing circumference of the yarn package, or by varying the spindle r.p.m. responsive to the tension of the yarn being wound.

The term yarn as used herein includes continuous filament yarn having at least one filament, staple yarn, and yarn having a combination of continuous filaments and staple. The yarn canbe initially free of twist, or it can initially have a degree of twist less than desired, or it can be initially interlaced. The yarn can be bulked, textured, or free of such treatment.

Reasonable variations and modifications are possible within the scope of the foregoingdisclosure,.the drawings and the appended claims to the invention.

Whatl claim is:

l. A yarn-twisting device comprising an annular sleeve split along a closed line located between and spaced from the upper and lower ends of said sleeve to form an upper sleeve section and a lower sleeve section, the'lower end of said upper sleeve section and the upper end'ofsa'id lower sleeve section having mating surfaces, the median plane for said closed line being inclined at an acute angle to the longitudinal axis of said sleeve; a spindle positioned within said sleeve with the longitudinal axis of said spindle being generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of said sleeve; means mounted on said spindle for receiving and holding a yarn package core; means for supporting said lower sleeve section; means for supplying a yarn to be twisted from a point located substantially on the axis of said spindle and exterior of said sleeve, through the space between said lower end of said upper sleeve section and the upper end of said lower sleeve section onto said yarn package core; and means for rotating said spindle and said yarn package core to wind said yarn onto said yarn package core I while imparting twist to said yarn.

2. A device in accordance with claim 1 wherein said annular sleeve is cylindrical.

3. A device in accordance with claim 1 wherein said annular sleeve and said spindle are coaxially positioned.

4. A device in accordance with claim 1 wherein said means for supporting said lower sleeve section comprises means for fixedly mounting said lower sleeve section.

5. A device inaccordance with claim I further comprising a bearing positioned on said spindle and having radially extending support arm member secured to an upper portion of said upper sleeve section. I

6. A device in accordance with claim 1 wherein said means for rotating said spindle comprises means for varying the r.p.m. of said spindle to maintain the twist level of thewound yarn substantially constant through out the wound yarn package.

7. A device in accordance with claim 1 wherein, said annular sleeve is cylindrical and is coaxially positioned with respect to said spindle. v

8. A device in accordance with claim 7 wherein said means for supporting said lower sleeve section comprises means for fixedly mounting said lowersleeve section.

9. A device in accordance with claim 8 further comprising a bearing positioned on said spindle and having radially extending support arm member secured to an upper portion of said upper sleeve section.

10. A device in accordance with claim 9 wherein said means for rotating said spindle comprises means for varying the r.p.m. of said spindle to maintain the twist level of the wound yarn substantially ,constant throughout the wound yarn package. 

1. A yarn-twisting device comprising an annular sleeve split along a closed line located between and spaced from the upper and lower ends of said sleeve to form an upper sleeve section and a lower sleeve section, the lower end of said upper sleeve section and the upper end of said lower sleeve section having mating surfaces, the median plane for said closed line being inclined at an acute angle to the longitudinal axis of said sleeve; a spindle positioned within said sleeve with the longitudinal axis of said spindle being generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of said sleeve; means mounted on said spindle for receiving and holding a yarn package core; means for supporting said lower sleeve section; means for supplying a yarn to be twisted from a point located substantially on the axis of said spindle and exterior of said sleeve, through the space between said lower end of said upper sleeve section and the upper end of said lower sleeve section onto said yarn package core; and means for rotating said spindle and said yarn package core to wind said yarn onto said yarn package core while imparting twist to said yarn.
 2. A device in accordance with claim 1 wherein said annular sleeve is cylindrical.
 3. A device in accordance with claim 1 wherein said annular sleeve and said spindle are coaxially positioned.
 4. A device in accordance with claim 1 wherein said means for supporting said lower sleeve section comprises means for fixedly mounting said lower sleeve section.
 5. A device in accordance with claim 1 further comprising a bearing positioned on said spindle and having radially extending support arm member secured to an upper portion of said upper sleeve section.
 6. A device in accordance with claim 1 wherein said means for rotating said spindle comprises means for varying the r.p.m. of said spindle to maintain the twist level of the wound yarn substantially constant through out the wound yarn package.
 7. A device in accordance with claim 1 wherein said annular sleeve is cylindrical and is coaxially positioned with respect to said spindle.
 8. A device in accordance with claim 7 wherein said means for supporting said lower sleeve section comprises means for fixedly mounting said lower sleeve section.
 9. A device in accordance with claim 8 further comprising a bearing positioned on said spindle and having radially extending support arm member secured to an upper portion of said upper sleeve section.
 10. A device in accordance with claim 9 wherein said means for rotating said spindle comprises means for varying the r.p.m. of said spindle to maintain the twist level of the wound yarn substantially constant throughout the wound yarn package. 